Constraints on recent military construction budgets have prevented DOD from addressing “urgent” parking requirements at some installations, according to the conferees who negotiated the conference report for the fiscal 2019 spending package covering the military construction-Veterans Affairs, energy-water and legislative branch appropriations bills. “The lack of parking is a safety issue and a detriment to the well-being of employees, both civilian and military,” according to the report’s joint explanatory statement. The conferees’ underlying concern is the department lacks a coherent strategy to address the problem, particularly at installations that have experienced significant growth.

The workforce assigned to Fort Meade, Md., for example has grown from just over 33,500 employees in 2005 to 57,000 today after gaining the headquarters for U.S. Cyber Command and the Defense Information Systems Agency. As a result, parking at the post has become “a serious issue,” the conferees state. In turn, the conferees direct the department to submit with its FY 2020 milcon budget request:

an updated list of unfunded requirements for parking facilities, access control points and road construction at DOD facilities that have serious parking, access and road congestion issues; and

a list of how those requirements will be incorporated into construction requests for fiscal years 2021 through 2025.

The three-bill spending package is awaiting the president’s signature after the House and Senate cleared the conference agreement last week.